Company of Liars - bookrastinating.com

electronic resource

English language

Published Nov. 2, 2009 by Random House Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-0-440-33883-3
OCLC Number:: 430050375

In this extraordinary novel, Karen Maitland delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--an ingenious alchemy of history, mystery, and powerful human drama. The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them.Each member of this motley company has a story to tell. From Camelot, the relic-seller who will become the group's leader, to Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller . . . from the strange, silent child called Narigorm to a painter and his pregnant wife, each has a secret. None is what they seem. And one among them conceals the darkest secret of all--propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.Magical, heart-quickening, and raw, Company of Liars is a work of vaulting imagination from a powerful new voice in historical fiction.From …

In this extraordinary novel, Karen Maitland delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--an ingenious alchemy of history, mystery, and powerful human drama. The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them.Each member of this motley company has a story to tell. From Camelot, the relic-seller who will become the group's leader, to Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller . . . from the strange, silent child called Narigorm to a painter and his pregnant wife, each has a secret. None is what they seem. And one among them conceals the darkest secret of all--propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.Magical, heart-quickening, and raw, Company of Liars is a work of vaulting imagination from a powerful new voice in historical fiction.From the Hardcover edition.

4 editions

Tattooed_Mummy reviewed Company of liars by Karen Maitland

Review of 'Company of liars' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A mixed band of travellers are drawn together by chance (or by charm) and move through a plague-ridden landscape trying to find work, food, and shelter. But one by one they are dying, the plague is not what they need to be worried about....

Loved this story, a mixed feeling that you are really living in a historical world but also the feeling it may be a fantasy or a ghost story. Like the characters themselves you find yourself believing in portents and omens, spirits and charms.

Lavinia

rated it

July 30, 2015